Update: Henderson jersey sells for $1,067,538

Paul Henderson, star of Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, photographed with his history-making jersey this month.Mike Cassesse, Reuters

• Update: Read below for a news release issued by Goldhar’s company
this morning, outlining his plans for the sweater.

And you thought the Canadiens jersey was called the sacred flannel.

It would take the nouveau riche Tomas Plekanec almost 17 games, before taxes, to buy it. Which he didn’t. But Paul Henderson’s 1972 Summit Series jersey broke every conceivable record for hockey memorabilia last night by selling at auction for $1,067,538 U.S. after frenzied late bidding pushed it up by more than a half-million dollars in the final hours.

Goldhar must also pay Montreal-headquartered Classic Auctions a buyer’s premium of $208,169.91 – 19.5 per cent of the sale price – plus shipping. Shouldn’t be a problem: Goldhar, who brought Wal-Mart into Canada, ranked 50th on Canadian Business’ richest Canadians list in 2008 with a net worth of $1.06 billion.

Classic drew 42 bids in all in the month-long auction, and
typical of their sales, the most frantic action took place in
overtime, the winning bid made almost an hour after the scheduled 9 pm
ET close.

A 10-minute rule kept bidding going should someone new
have jumped into the game with less than 10 minutes to go, the auction
alive
until 10 minutes then passed without a new bid. It’s unclear how
involved Goldhar was in the bidding before he won the auction, or what his plans might be for the acquisition.

Classic
President Marc Juteau, in a 4 am email to me: “…amazing, we’re all
stunned in the office, the million-dollar jersey.”

——

Goldhar’s news release:

Toronto (June
23, 2010) – Mitchell Goldhar, owner of SmartCentres, today announced
that he
has purchased Paul Henderson’s 1972 Team Canada sweater from its
American owner
in a highly competitive auction held last evening.

“I am
pleased and proud to bring this important piece of Canadian history
home,”
Goldhar said. “As a lifelong hockey fan I know what Paul Henderson’s
winning
goal against the Russians in 1972 means to all Canadians.”

Goldhar
wants the sweater to reach all corners of Canada through a national
tour. He
plans to make arrangements for the sweater to be displayed at community
locations such as museums, including the Hockey Hall of Fame, to ensure
as many
Canadians as possible can share in this wonderful memory.

A Canadian
company, SmartCentres has more than 200 shopping centres in communities
big and
small, and operates in every province. SmartCentres is a major
contributor to
SickKids, Bloorview Kids Rehab, CAMH and the Canadian Museum for Human
Rights
and many other worthy causes across Canada.

413 Comments

I just love how some of you want to trade our best player, a top 7 defenseman in the league, just because he’s gotten injured for one year in his career….

Tearing an ACL doesn’t make you soft. It will make any person on the face of the earth miss significant time. When he was out, we all cried and said the season was over because our dear Markov was injured. Then he rushed his rehab, came back almost 2 months earlier from a sometimes career threatening injury, and all was jolly. Until of course, the savior himself, PK came in a made you guys all pop a you know what in your pants.

Now, you guys suggest we trade the guy we all cried about last year and said was our best player. He still is our best player….

But hey we can trade him, because we have “bright lights” in our organization in Kristo, Leblanc, and Subban. They’ve proven so much at the NHL level, that Markov is now expendable. Heck, I heard Chicago has some awsome defenseman down on the farm, so I think it’s time they trade Keith and Seabrook. I mean hey, Seabrook got a concussion last year so they should trade him for sure…..

So, let’s trade Markov who’s proven to be one of the best, and cross our fingers that those guys develop into superstars, right? Then when they don’t live up to being 100 pt players at 20 years old, we’ll just smash them in the papers and on the radio. Because we all know that didn’t happen to one of our goaltenders (Price), right?….

Personally, I’m looking forward to a full season of Carey Price as the Habs go-to guy. No more hiding. No more excuses. No more crying. Plan B remains the usual, however. Bring up Cedric The Entertainer, have him get the team into the playoffs, and then hand the top job back to Price in the playoffs. I wish I had a guy who could bail me out at work when I suck, do the job well and just hand it back to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more negative person that you. It’s incredible, every single thing corcerning the Habs with you is wrong. It’s pathetic man, if you can’t cheer for them don’t say anything.

All you do is spread negativity around here. People come on this site to pass some time and enjoy talking about their favorite team.

Cammi Granato got in through the women’s category, which is totally seperate from the men’s category. There are a maximum of 2 women who can get in, and a maximum of 4 men (players) per year. They chose to only select 1 out of 4 possible slots this year, but that has no bearing on Granato.

I would also say that Paul Henderson’s entire HOF candidacy comes down to a 3 second period of his career. Put the puck in there, put the jersey in there, no way does the player belong in there.

What about the Habs lack of size up front? What about the Habs lack of depth on the blue line?

What about the need for a back-up/mentor/possible starter in nets?

I can’t believe people here are predicting the Habs at 5th over-all in the East.

I just hope that should the Habs be around 12th spot after the ASG that rather then sell the farm at another shot at squeeking in at 8th that they trade Markov, Hamrlik (if possible), AKostitsyn (if he isn’t already gone by then) for picks and prospects. The Habs need to start stocking the shelves because even though there are some bright lights (Kristo, Leblanc) there isn’t enough in the pipes to build anything other than a bubble team.

If Markov gets injured next season, the Habs shouldn’t resign him, that’s for sure, so IMHHO trading him between the time of his return and the trade deadline would be the best option.

He hasn’t played a single game on the super cap friendly contract he signed last fall, no way Chiarelli sells low for Kaberle. If Savard bounces back with Kessel, it’s too much to risk. The last 3 years of that contract are for 1.5M, 525,000 & 525,000, which will be below the league minimum salary at that point.

He may not put up another 90 point season between now and then, and even though he is breaking longevity records by playing deep into his early 30s, I’d say he’s capable of 70 or more for the next couple of years. At that point, $4M cap will look pretty good for a 2nd iine center, and if they can do better, they’d have no problem moving that contract to a salary floor team.

As for Thomas, mentioned below, they are pooched. That was a bad contract and they are going to have to eat that, or lose a trade to get rid of him – just like we will to be able to move Hamr.

PG moves Halaka to sign Pleck…….this cap thing stinks…..all just to please the US teams.! 30 mediocre where “anyone can win in a given year” makes a crappy league. Any fan who hopes for the glory days of the past are in the wrong matrix.